


The Good News and the Bad Ones

by Cyanocitta20



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (of a baby dragon), Cute, Dragons, Established Relationship, Fluff, Harry loves animals, Jealous Tom Riddle, M/M, They love him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26139427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyanocitta20/pseuds/Cyanocitta20
Summary: For the Corona Challenge...-Prompt-Harry: I have good news and bad news. Our dragon burned the kitchen down.Tom, confused: we don't have a dragon.Harry: and now for the good news!
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Comments: 31
Kudos: 272
Collections: Corona Challenge





	The Good News and the Bad Ones

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [SoVeryTired](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryTired/pseuds/SoVeryTired) in the [CoronaChallenge](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/CoronaChallenge) collection. 



Tom stumbled out of the fireplace, finally arriving home after a long day at work. Feeling a little disoriented from the floo, he shook his head, trying to steady himself. Tom then looked around, searching for his absent husband. 

“Harry?” he called out, wondering if something had happened. It was unlike Harry not to be waiting for him in the living room. 

“Um, in the kitchen, Tom!” Harry answered. Tom headed towards the kitchen, trying to squish the feeling of apprehension nagging at the back of his mind. The fact that the kitchen door was closed and there seemed to be traces of smoke in the air only added to his worry.

Before he managed to reach the door, Harry slammed the door open, exited the kitchen, and quickly shut the door behind him before Tom could get a proper glimpse. 

“Uhm. Sorry about that... How was work today?” Harry asked, an expression of complete innocence on his face. Tom wasn’t fooled. Harry only tried to look innocent when he had, again, gone and caused some kind of mayhem. The state of his messed up robes and hair (although admittedly, Harry  _ always _ had messy hair), along with the highly suspicious bundle of clothes in his arms didn’t help either. 

Tom sighed, “What have you done this time? And please be honest, darling. You know there’s no use trying to lie to me.”

Harry fidgeted, averting his gaze and shuffling his feet back and forth nervously.

“Well,” he started, “...I have good news and bad news. Bad news: Our dragon burned the kitchen down.”

“Harry... we don't have a dragon.”

“Ah, about that.. You see-“

“Harry, don’t tell me you-“

“That’s the good news! We now have a dragon!” Harry blurted out, before shutting his mouth tightly. He hadn’t meant to spring it on Tom quite so suddenly. He bit his lip, watching Tom’s reaction carefully. 

Tom pinched the bridge of his nose, controlling his breaths and praying for some otherworldly deity to give him some patience so he wouldn’t blow up.

His husband was adorable, and Tom loved him with all he had. However, it often seemed like everyone- and by everyone he literally meant  _ every living being _ \- loved Harry as well. Tom had never seen anyone, human or otherwise, turn away from Harry. All creatures simply  _ flocked _ towards him and attached themselves to his being like it was the most natural thing in the world.

The problem with this was that Harry loved all these creatures back just as much. He delighted in taking care of them, and would never disregard any animal- or human- in need. This meant that Tom often came home to situations like today, where Harry went and brought back another stray found on the streets. From common pets like dogs and cats to rare magical creatures like unicorns and thestrals, they had all, at some point, found a home in the Riddle-Potter household.  _ Where _ all these creatures were coming from, Tom would never know. Their house was already overrun, and now Harry had apparently gone and found himself a  _ dragon _ .

Truly, Tom thought Harry’s caring nature was endearing, but sometimes it was too much for him to handle.

“Harry, you swore that the hippogriff would be the last,” he cautiously began, trying not to hurt Harry’s feelings.

“But... look at her, Tom!”

Harry thrust the bundle of clothes at him. Tom caught it by reflex, staring at Harry confusedly.

“What is this?”

Just then, a movement came from the pile in his arms. Eyes widening in realization, Tom slowly turned his gaze downwards.

A small glittering eye blinked lazily up at him. Carefully, so as not to startle the creature, Tom removed some of the clothes that were hiding it from his view.

The dragon, quite obviously a baby, was indeed quite adorable. It was about the size of a large puppy, and had wide, multicolored eyes. It’s scales shone a pearly white, shimmering slightly under the light. The scales and eyes indicated that it was probably an Antipodean Opaleye, although  _ how _ Harry had managed to find a baby dragon native to New Zealand in London, Tom had no idea.

It looked at Tom for a second before snarling a little, smoke curling out of its snout. Then it promptly turned and jumped right back into Harry’s arms, settling down and looking at Tom triumphantly. Tom glared right back at the little dragon.

The thing was, as much as Harry had an affinity with creatures, Tom was the exact opposite. Creatures immediately hated him, and he disliked them just as much. The fact that they crawled all over his Harry annoyed him to no end as well. After all, Harry was supposed to be his, and he had no wish to share his beloved with a million others. 

Of course, Tom recalled with a sigh, when he mentioned this to Harry, the man had only laughed at him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Then he had patted said cheek while telling him he was being ridiculous and there was no reason to be jealous.

But, in Tom’s mind, there definitely was. He disliked having to compete with anyone for Harry’s affections. Even right now, he had just returned from work and yet Harry was cooing and crooning at the baby dragon, instead of fussing over him like he preferred.

The dragon would have to go, he decided, and though he’d never admit it aloud, it wasn’t  _ just _ because it had apparently ruined their kitchen.

“Harry, please promise me you’ll contact Charlie and tell him to take the dragon to the reserve.”

“But Tom, she’s so cute! Can’t we keep her?”

Lord help him, Harry was bringing out the puppy dog eyes. Really, those eyes should be illegal. Tom was convinced they had some kind of compulsion spell on them. He did his best to look away.

“Harry, you know we can’t manage a dragon here. It’s not safe or ideal for her either. She might be small now, but you know how large dragons get. Don’t you think she’ll be happier at the reserve, where she won’t be so cooped up? ”

It was probably the only way to convince Harry- to tell him that staying here might be a cause of stress for the dragon, that it would be happier in Romania. Tom hated having to disappoint Harry, but there was _no way_ they were keeping a dragon. No matter how cute Harry looked cuddling it. 

“Alright,” Harry sighed, finally giving up. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll go ask Charlie.” He walked towards the floo dejectedly, taking the little menace with him.

Once Harry was out of sight, Tom carefully opened the kitchen door, deciding to see for himself how much damage had been done to their home.

The kitchen was a disaster. Really, there was no other way to describe the scene in front of him. The scent of smoke was still thick in the air, the room was covered in ashes and the furniture was mostly charred. There was also some water on the floor, no doubt from a hastily cast  _ Aguamenti _ . An area in the corner, however, seemed to have been repaired already. Harry had obviously been in the process of undoing the results of the fire when Tom had arrived. Sighing, Tom raised his wand, deciding to continue Harry’s work while he waited. It was a good thing, he thought, that magic existed. Then again, if it weren’t for magic, they probably wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.

By the time Harry came back, the little dragon still held tight in his arms, Tom was halfway done. 

“Charlie says he’ll stop by tomorrow,” Harry told him, joining in the cleaning process. “He says he’ll take her up to Romania, and we can go visit her whenever we want. You’ll come with me, won’t you? I want to watch her grow up.”

“Yes, Harry, I’ll go with you,” Tom answered easily.  _ Anything to convince you to let that dragon go. _

* * *

It took the two of them another hour to finish repairing their kitchen. By the end, both were rather exhausted by all the work, and decided to have an early night. 

Comfortably settled in bed, and with his arms settled firmly around Harry, Tom was finally able to relax. The dragon was out of the way, and he now had Harry all to himself. Just the way he wanted. He was about to fall asleep when Harry softly called his name.

“Tom?”

”Hmm?”

”You know I love you, right? No matter how much I love my little creatures, you will always come first.”

“I know, and I love you too. Just... Could you lay off on bringing in new strays for a while? I’d rather prefer to have you to myself.”

“I will. I’m sorry.” Harry kissed him lightly. 

Tom hugged him just a little closer, “Forgiven. Good night, Harry.”

“Good night, Tom.”  


* * *

It was barely a week later when Tom returned home to another mess. 

“Tom! Look! I found a crup! Can we keep him?”

Never let it be said that life with Harry Potter was boring.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
